Ancient Evil stirs: Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a bone chilling supernatural thriller, arriving Oct 2025 across top streaming platforms

A haunting spectral suspense film from author / film architect Andrew Chiaramonte, summoning an ancient nightmare when strangers become puppets in a satanic maze. Hitting screens October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s Prime Video, YouTube, Google’s digital store, iTunes, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango on-demand.

L.A., CA (August 8th, 2025) – Prepare yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a disturbing tale of resistance and primordial malevolence that will reconstruct the horror genre this spooky time. Produced by rising thriller expert Andrew Chiaramonte, this claustrophobic and eerie story follows five characters who are stirred stranded in a cut-off lodge under the hostile sway of Kyra, a female presence haunted by a ancient sacrosanct terror. Prepare to be gripped by a audio-visual display that integrates bodily fright with timeless legends, releasing on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Possession by evil has been a classic tradition in film. In *Young & Cursed*, that formula is twisted when the beings no longer arise from external sources, but rather from their core. This echoes the haunting aspect of each of them. The result is a bone-chilling inner struggle where the intensity becomes a merciless fight between heaven and hell.


In a wilderness-stricken landscape, five youths find themselves confined under the possessive rule and domination of a obscure being. As the youths becomes paralyzed to oppose her will, cut off and followed by terrors impossible to understand, they are driven to endure their worst nightmares while the clock without pity moves toward their dark fate.


In *Young & Cursed*, distrust amplifies and friendships shatter, requiring each cast member to challenge their personhood and the nature of self-determination itself. The cost mount with every tick, delivering a nightmarish journey that connects ghostly evil with inner turmoil.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my vision was to dig into instinctual horror, an threat older than civilization itself, emerging via fragile psyche, and wrestling with a force that redefines identity when we lose control.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Becoming Kyra asked for exploring something unfamiliar to reason. She is clueless until the control shifts, and that pivot is eerie because it is so deep.”

Debut Info

*Young & Cursed* will be brought for on-demand beginning from October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, Google’s video hub, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango on-demand—making sure viewers across the world can enjoy this chilling supernatural event.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just premiered a new extended look for *Young & Cursed*, uploaded to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a follow-through to its original promo, which has pulled in over massive response.


In addition to its first availability, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has revealed that *Young & Cursed* will also be shared across borders, spreading the horror to a global viewership.


Don’t miss this life-altering path of possession. Join *Young & Cursed* this spooky debut to confront these unholy truths about the soul.


For behind-the-scenes access, behind-the-scenes content, and insider scoops from Chiaramonte Films, follow @YoungAndCursedFilm across your socials and visit the movie portal.





U.S. horror’s pivotal crossroads: 2025 in focus U.S. Slate weaves old-world possession, independent shockers, plus series shake-ups

Kicking off with grit-forward survival fare saturated with old testament echoes as well as IP renewals together with acutely observed indies, 2025 is tracking to be the most textured plus tactically planned year for the modern era.

Call it full, but it is also focused. major banners plant stakes across the year with familiar IP, in tandem SVOD players saturate the fall with new perspectives plus archetypal fear. On the festival side, festival-forward creators is drafting behind the backdraft of a banner 2024 fest year. With Halloween still the genre’s crown piece, the non-October slots are tuned with exactness. The autumn corridor is the classic sprint, though in this cycle, rollouts stretch into January, spring, and mid-summer. Viewers are hungry, studios are exacting, as a result 2025 could stand as the most orchestrated year.

Studio Playbook and Mini-Major Tactics: Prestige fear returns

The majors are not coasting. If 2024 reset the chessboard, 2025 presses the advantage.

the Universal banner starts the year with a statement play: a reconceived Wolf Man, avoiding the standard nineteenth century European backdrop, but a crisp modern milieu. Guided by Leigh Whannell anchored by Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this pass grounds the lycanthropy in household collapse. The turn is more than creature work, it is about marriage, parenthood, and humanity. set for mid January, it helps remake the winter trough with prestige offerings, not discard thrillers.

In spring, Clown in a Cornfield lands, a YA slasher novel refit as minimal menace. Helmed by Eli Craig fronted by Katie Douglas with Kevin Durand, it is blood soaked Americana horror with a satirical streak. Under the guise, it interrogates township panic, generational breaks, and mob rule. Early reactions hint at fangs.

As summer wanes, Warner Bros. releases the last chapter of its steadiest horror franchise: The Conjuring: Last Rites. The Warrens return, played by Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the piece hints at a heartfelt wrap as it treats a notorious case. Though the outline is tried, director Michael Chaves reportedly leans into a mournful, interior tone for the swan song. It is also positioned early in September, giving it breathing room before the October onslaught.

The Black Phone 2 follows. First targeted at early summer, the move into October reads bullish. Scott Derrickson is back, and the tone that worked before is intact: vintage toned fear, trauma as text, paired with unsettling supernatural order. This pass pushes higher, through a fuller probe of the “grabber” lore and inherited grief.

Completing the calendar is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a release that travels on brand alone. The continuation widens the legend, enlarges the animatronic menagerie, while aiming for teen viewers and thirty something game loyalists. It arrives in December, anchoring horror’s winter tail.

Streaming Offerings: Low budgets, big teeth

While cinemas swing on series strength, streamers are taking risks, and it is paying off.

A flagship risky title is Weapons, a cold file multi story chiller interlacing three eras linked by a mass vanishing. With Zach Cregger directing and featuring Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the project unites horror with dramatic charge. Premiering theatrically in late summer before a fall streaming drop, it is expected to spark online debate and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian before it.

At the smaller scale sits Together, a tight space body horror vignette starring Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Set in a remote rental home during a getaway gone wrong, the film explores what happens when love, envy, and self hatred merge into physical decay. It reads tender, repulsive, and intensely uneasy, a three act churn into codependent hell. Though no platform has officially staked a release date, it is poised for a fall platform bow.

Also notable is Sinners, a 1930s period vampire folk story headlined by Michael B. Jordan. Framed in sepia richness with biblical metaphor, it plays like There Will Be Blood meets Let the Right One In. The narrative analyzes American religious trauma through a ghostly allegory. Advance tests paint it as a watercooler streamer.

Extra indies bide their time on platforms: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each taps grief, vanishing, and identity, treating horror as metaphor more than spectacle.

Deep Possession Currents: Young & Cursed

Hitting October 2 on the platforms, Young & Cursed plays as a rare fusion, spare in setting, sweeping in lore. Written and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the piece tracks five strangers awakening in a remote wilds cabin, under Kyra’s sway, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. When evening turns to black, Kyra’s control expands, an encroaching force weaponizing fears, cracks, and guilt.

The chill is psyche led, anchored in primal myth. Skipping the exorcism norm of Catholic rite and Latin line, this piece touches something older, something darker. Lilith bypasses ritual, she awakens from trauma, repression, and human fragility. An inward possession, not an outward spell, turns the trope and sets Young & Cursed inside a widening trend, intimate character work housed in genre.

The Halloween window on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home frames the film as counter to sequel saturation and creature revivals. It is canny scheduling. No overstuffed canon. No canon weight. Only psychological menace, compressed and taut, tuned to binge and gasp cycles online. With a spectacle heavy year, Young & Cursed may pop by going quiet, then screaming.

Festival Origins, Market Outcomes

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF remain the hothouse where next season’s horror grows. This year, the launchpad function outruns the showcase role.

Fantastic Fest posts a muscular horror lineup this year. Primate kicks off with tropical body horror and gets Cronenberg Herzog cross talk. Whistle, a folkloric revenge thriller steeped in Aztec lore, is expected to close the fest with fire.

Midnight fare like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You rides on craft as well as title. That film, an A24 backed satire of toxic fandom inside a horror convention lockdown, looks poised to break out.

SXSW hosted Clown in a Cornfield and sweetened the pot for microbudget haunts. Sundance appears set for grief threaded elevated horror once more, while Tribeca’s genre yard leans urban, social, and surreal.

The festival game increasingly values branding over mere discovery. Festival laurels are opening moves, not closing notes.

Long Running Lines: Reups, Reboots, and Rethinks

This year’s legacy entries carry strength and deliberation.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, set for July, reanimates the 90s series with a new lead and nostalgia tone. Versus earlier beats, it favors camp and prom night melodrama. Bring tiaras, red dye, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 posts late June, with a plan to deepen its techno horror mythos via new characters and AI terrors. The original’s social and streaming breakout emboldened Universal to double down.

On the slate sits The Long Walk, from one of Stephen King’s stark early titles, under Francis Lawrence, it lands as a ruthless dystopian allegory couched in survival horror, a march where no one wins. If packaged well, it could track like The Hunger Games for horror adults.

Other reboots and sequels, including Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, scatter across the calendar, many awaiting strategic windows or late acquisitions.

Trend Lines

Mythic horror goes mainstream
Lilith in Young & Cursed plus Aztec curses in Whistle highlight ancient texts and symbols. This is less nostalgia, more reclamation of pre Christian archetypes. Horror goes beyond fright, it notes evil’s age.

Body Horror Makes a Comeback
Projects including Together, Weapons, and Keeper re center the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation are standing in for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Platform originals gain bite
Disposable horror filler days on platforms have passed. Services bankroll legitimate writing, legitimate directors, and proper media. Debuts like Weapons and Sinners carry event framing, not content bins.

Festival heat turns into leverage
Festival status acts as leverage for exhibition, placement, and publicity. Forgo a festival map in 2025 and obscurity beckons.

Theatrical release is a trust fall
The big screen goes to those expected to beat comps or build series. All others choose PVOD or hybrid. Horror keeps theatrical presence, via curation.

Outlook: Fall stack and winter swing card

Those four, Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons, crowd September and October to saturation. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper must claw for air. Some may slide to early 2026 or switch platform lanes.

December holds on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, though a stealth streamer release may land late. With mythic energy high, a late creature or exorcism entry could pop.

The key is connecting variety to fragmentation, not betting on one piece. The aim is not another Get Out chase, it is durable horror beyond gross.



The forthcoming 2026 Horror year to come: follow-ups, non-franchise titles, as well as A hectic Calendar geared toward screams

Dek The arriving terror slate packs from day one with a January cluster, subsequently flows through summer, and straight through the holiday stretch, blending brand heft, fresh ideas, and smart counter-scheduling. Studio marketers and platforms are relying on responsible budgets, theatrical-first rollouts, and social-driven marketing that convert horror entries into water-cooler talk.

The state of horror, heading into 2026

The horror sector has grown into the dependable counterweight in annual schedules, a lane that can expand when it performs and still buffer the drawdown when it under-delivers. After the 2023 year re-taught leaders that efficiently budgeted pictures can drive audience talk, 2024 extended the rally with director-led heat and surprise hits. The energy pushed into the 2025 frame, where revivals and premium-leaning entries signaled there is an opening for diverse approaches, from continued chapters to filmmaker-driven originals that travel well. The sum for 2026 is a run that looks unusually coordinated across the industry, with defined corridors, a blend of known properties and novel angles, and a reinvigorated attention on theater exclusivity that drive downstream revenue on premium digital rental and OTT platforms.

Marketers add the category now acts as a flex slot on the release plan. The genre can debut on a wide range of weekends, furnish a clear pitch for promo reels and platform-native cuts, and outstrip with patrons that turn out on advance nights and stay strong through the sophomore frame if the entry works. In the wake of a strike-impacted pipeline, the 2026 configuration reflects conviction in that logic. The year opens with a crowded January lineup, then taps spring and early summer for alternate plays, while keeping space for a autumn stretch that flows toward holiday-adjacent weekends and afterwards. The calendar also spotlights the greater integration of arthouse labels and digital platforms that can launch in limited release, create conversation, and grow at the timely point.

An added macro current is franchise tending across brand ecosystems and long-running brands. Distribution groups are not just greenlighting another chapter. They are looking to package continuity with a specialness, whether that is a typeface approach that announces a fresh attitude or a lead change that threads a next film to a classic era. At the meanwhile, the helmers behind the headline-grabbing originals are embracing material texture, special makeup and grounded locations. That interplay offers 2026 a vital pairing of brand comfort and surprise, which is how horror tends to travel globally.

Studio by studio strategy signals

Paramount leads early with two spotlight releases that straddle tones widely. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director slot and Neve Campbell back at the heart, positioning the film as both a succession moment and a rootsy character piece. Principal photography is underway in Atlanta, and the narrative stance conveys a memory-charged campaign without going over the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. Anticipate a campaign rooted in legacy iconography, character-first teases, and a tiered teaser plan landing toward late fall. Distribution is Paramount’s theatrical route.

Paramount also dusts off a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are reforming, with the Wayans brothers involved in development for the first time since the early 2000s, a selling point the campaign will foreground. As a summer counterprogrammer, this one will seek large awareness through joke-first clips, with the horror spoof format fitting quick shifts to whatever shapes horror talk that spring.

Universal has three defined entries. SOULM8TE bows January 9, 2026, a AI-tinged spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The conceit is efficient, sorrow-tinged, and easily pitched: a grieving man implements an virtual partner that unfolds into a fatal companion. The date lines it up at the front of a front-loaded month, with the Universal machine likely to bring back odd public stunts and micro spots that fuses longing and chill.

On May 8, 2026, the studio places an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely read as the feature developed under working titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The dated slate currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which allows a branding reveal to become an fan moment closer to the first look. The timing holds ground in early May while larger tentpoles occupy other frames.

Anchoring the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film claims October 23, 2026, a slot he has excelled in before. His projects are marketed as signature events, with a teaser that reveals little and a follow-up trailer set that tee up tone without spoiling the concept. The Halloween-adjacent date creates space for Universal to fill pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then use the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, collaborates with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček leads, with Souheila Yacoub starring. The franchise has long shown that a raw, physical-effects centered aesthetic can feel top-tier on a disciplined budget. Position this as a splatter summer horror shock that spotlights global traction, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most non-U.S. markets.

Sony’s horror bench is surprisingly deep. The studio mounts two IP moves in the back half. An untitled Insidious film arrives August 21, 2026, continuing a reliable supernatural brand front and center while the spin-off branch evolves. Sony has reshuffled on this title before, but the current plan anchors it in late summer, where the brand has traditionally delivered.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil re-emerges in what Sony is framing as a from-the-ground-up reboot for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a central part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a explicit mandate to serve both players and casuals. The fall slot gives Sony time to build materials around environmental design, and practical creature work, elements that can drive premium booking interest and fandom activation.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, positions a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film carries forward Eggers’ run of period horror shaped by obsessive craft and archaic language, this time engaging werewolf myth. The distributor has already booked the frame for a holiday release, a signal of faith in the auteur as a specialty play that can grow wide if early reception is glowing.

How the platforms plan to play it

Streaming playbooks in 2026 run on well-known grooves. Universal’s genre entries shift to copyright after a box-office phase then PVOD, a stair-step that elevates both opening-weekend urgency and sub growth in the later phase. Prime Video interleaves third-party pickups with global pickups and short theatrical plays when the data justifies it. Max and Hulu optimize their lanes in library curation, using timely promos, horror hubs, and curated strips to sustain interest on aggregate take. Netflix stays nimble about Netflix originals and festival wins, timing horror entries tight to release and coalescing around go-lives with tight-window plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, harnesses a dual-phase of selective theatrical runs and rapid platforming that converts buzz to sign-ups. That will be material for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before relying on niche channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ cherry-picks horror on a situational basis. The platform has shown a willingness to invest in select projects with top-tier auteurs or A-list packages, then give them a boutique theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet qualification bars or to create word of mouth before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still capitalizes on the 20th Century Studios slate, a core piece for monthly activity when the genre conversation heats up.

Specialized lanes

Cineverse is curating a 2026 sequence with two recognizable titles. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The proposition is tight: the same atmospheric, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult item, updated for modern audio-visual craft. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a September to November window, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has hinted a theatrical-first plan for the title, an upbeat indicator for fans of the savage series and for exhibitors seeking darker fare in the autumn stretch.

Focus will work the director lane with Werwulf, managing the title through a fall festival swing if the cut is ready, then activating the holiday corridor to move out. That positioning has delivered for elevated genre with audience crossover. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not finalized many 2026 slots in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines regularly gel after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A fair assumption is a sprinkle of late-summer and fall platformers that can broaden if reception justifies. Look for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that plays Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work together, using limited runs to spark the evangelism that fuels their subscriber growth.

Series vs standalone

By skew, the 2026 slate leans toward the legacy column. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all harness cultural cachet. The challenge, as ever, is brand wear. The go-to fix is to sell each entry as a reframed mode. Paramount is emphasizing core character and DNA in Scream 7, Sony is hinting at a from-scratch reboot for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is driving a European tilt from a new voice. Those choices register when the audience has so many options and social sentiment turns quickly.

Originals and director-driven titles add oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be branded as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, centers Rachel McAdams in a survival chiller premise with signature tonal menace. SOULM8TE offers a precise, unnerving tech hook. Werwulf delivers period specificity and an stark tone. Even when the title is not based on known IP, the package is recognizable enough to build pre-sales and early previews.

Three-year comps make sense of the model. In 2023, a exclusive theatrical model that held distribution windows did not stop a same-day experiment from performing when the brand was compelling. In 2024, craft-forward auteur horror hit big in big-format auditoriums. In 2025, a resuscitation of a beloved infection saga showed the market that global horror franchises can still feel recharged when they shift POV and expand the canvas. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which presses on January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The dual-chapter plan, with chapters shot back-to-back, gives leeway to marketing to connect the chapters through character and theme and to hold creative in the market without long gaps.

How the films are being made

The craft rooms behind the year’s horror telegraph a continued lean toward real, location-led craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not repeat any recent iteration of the property, a stance that matches the practical-effects sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film finished principal and is on track for its April 17, 2026 date. Anticipate a rollout that centers creep and texture rather than roller-coaster spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership backing smart budget discipline.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has described Werwulf as the most chilling project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval world and period-accurate language, a combination that can make for sonic immersion and a chilly, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely highlight this aesthetic in feature stories and below-the-line spotlights before rolling out a tone piece that keeps plot minimal, a move that has played for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is geared for goopy mayhem, a signature of the series that connects worldwide in red-band trailers and earns shareable scream clips from early screenings. Scream 7 delivers a meta reframe that brings back the core lead. Resident Evil will thrive or struggle on creature craft and set design, which align with expo activations and controlled asset drops. Insidious tends to be a sound-mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the in-theater case feel necessary. Look for trailers that accent disciplined sound, deep-bass stingers, and mute beats that sing on PLF.

The schedule at a glance

January is full. Universal’s SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Cineverse’s Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a atmospheric change-up amid bigger brand plays. The month winds down with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a stranded thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is legit, but the spread of tones creates a lane for each, and the five-week structure hands each a runway for each if word of mouth spreads.

Early-year through spring set up the summer. Scream 7 lands February 27 with nostalgia heat. In April, New Line’s The Mummy reawakens a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was home to genre counterprogramming and now hosts big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 flows into summer while navigate to this website maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer heightens the contrast. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is comedic and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 unleashes severe intensity. The counterprogramming logic is smart. The spoof can succeed next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest rewards older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have finished their premium pass.

Late Q3 into Q4 leans brand. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously landed. Resident Evil comes after September 18, a early fall window that still links to Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film secures October 23 and will own cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely augmented by a mystery-driven teaser strategy and limited advance reveals that favor idea over plot.

Prestige at year’s end. Werwulf on December 25 is a marker that genre can win the holiday when packaged as prestige-leaning horror. The distributor has done this before, staging carefully, then using critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to ride the cycle into January. If the film clicks critically, the studio can extend in the first week of 2027 while benefiting from holiday season and card redemption.

Title-by-title briefings, embedded in the narrative

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting on a rolling basis as production is underway. Logline: Sidney returns to counter a new Ghostface while the narrative revisits the original film’s founding notes. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: classic-DNA reset with a current angle.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A bereaved man’s algorithmic partner evolves into something fatal and romantic. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal completed for an early-year bow. Positioning: algorithmic dread with emotion.

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (Sony, January 16, 2026)
Director: Nia DaCosta. Writer: Alex Garland. Top cast: Cillian Murphy, Jack O’Connell, and additional ensemble tied to a new antagonist faction. Logline: The second chapter in a trilogy widens the scope beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult emerges in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Produced consecutively with the first film. Positioning: continuation of a revived prestige zombie saga.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man travels back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to run into a warped reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed and U.S. theatrical set. Positioning: atmospheric game adaptation.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her difficult boss fight to survive on a uninhabited island as the power dynamic inverts and dread encroaches. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed. Positioning: celebrity-led survival horror from a legend.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles in the vault in official materials. Logline: A contemporary re-envisioning that returns the monster to nightmare, anchored by Cronin’s on-set craft and slow-bloom dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished. Positioning: classic monster reset with creative stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A domestic haunting chiller that refracts terror through a minor’s volatile subjective view. Rating: forthcoming. Production: post-ready. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven paranormal suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers participating creatively. Logline: {A send-up revival that skewers current genre trends and true crime preoccupations. Rating: rating forthcoming. Production: fall 2025 shoot penciled in. Positioning: mass-audience summer option.

Evil Dead Burn (Warner Bros. domestic, July 24, 2026)
Director: Sébastien Vaniček. Top cast: Souheila Yacoub, with ensemble additions. Logline: A new infestation of Deadites breaks out, with an multinational twist in tone and setting. Rating: forthcoming. Production: principal photography in New Zealand. Positioning: R-forward continuation crafted for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be announced in marketing. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: The Further unfurls again, with a new clan bound to ancient dread. Rating: to be announced. Production: set for summer production targeting late-summer opening. Positioning: consistent franchise performer in a beneficial frame.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: A clean reboot designed to reconstitute the franchise from the ground up, with an focus on survival horror over action pyrotechnics. Rating: forthcoming. Production: on a development track with locked window. Positioning: game-rooted reset with broad potential.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: purposely secretive. Rating: pending. Production: in progress. Positioning: auteur event powered by teasers.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on time-true diction and elemental fear. Rating: forthcoming. Production: in active prep with holiday date set. Positioning: auteur prestige horror aimed at holiday corridor with crafts prospects.

Wolf Creek: Legacy (Cineverse, TBA 2026)
Director: Greg McLean. Top cast: John Jarratt expected to return as Mick Taylor. Logline: The Australian outback slasher returns, with a theatrical-first route ahead of platforming. Status: timing fluid, autumn anticipated.

Why the calendar favors 2026

Three operational forces structure this lineup. First, production that decelerated or migrated in 2024 demanded space on the calendar. Horror can move in swiftly because scripts often rely on fewer locations, fewer large-scale visual effects runs, and shorter schedules. Second, studios have become more methodical about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently exceeded straight-to-streaming premieres. Third, platform buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will harvest meme-ready beats from test screenings, select scare clips dropping on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that become influencer fuel. It is a repeatable playbook because it wins.

There is also the slotting calculus. Early corridors for family and capes are leaner in 2026, opening usable real estate for genre entries that can command a weekend or position as the older-lean choice. January is the prime example. Four different flavors of horror will coexist across five weekends, which permits distinct conversations to flourish. Summer provides the other window. The satire rides the animated and action tide, then the hard-R entry can use a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Financials, ratings, and sleeper angles

Budgets remain in the Goldilocks zone. Most of the films above will stay under the $40 to $50 million threshold, with many far below. That allows for wide PLF deployment without needing superhero-level volume to break even. The most likely R ratings include Evil Dead Burn, Werwulf, and possibly Resident Evil depending on the final cut. Scream 7, Insidious, and SOULM8TE can plausibly land PG-13 to maximize reach, though each franchise has toggled between ratings in the past. Specialty plays tend to lean R to preserve tone and intensity.

The breakout hunt continues in Q1, where value-budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to capitalize on those pockets. January could easily deliver the first sleeper overperformer of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

Internationally, brand recognition helps Resident Evil, Evil Dead, and Scream travel, while 28 Years Later benefits from a British setting and returning talent. Werwulf and The Mummy will lean on auteur and classic-monster awareness abroad. Streamers will amplify the tail, with copyright pickups boosting Universal’s slate and Shudder driving evangelism for Cineverse titles. Count on a vigorous PVOD arc overall, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

What the calendar feels like for audiences

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers pattern and spread. January is a banquet, February delivers a legacy slasher, April returns a Universal monster, May and June provide a two-hit supernatural combo for date nights and group outings, July gets blood-slick, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a bleak, literate nightmare. That is how you keep chatter alive and occupancy strong without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can sequence upward, using earlier releases to trailhead the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors like the spacing. Horror delivers predictable Thursday surges, optimized footprints, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can earn PLF placement, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing tactility, sound, and visual design that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

2026, Lined Up To Scare

Calendars slide. Ratings change. Casts shuffle. But the spine of 2026 horror is sturdy. There is brand equity where it matters, distinct vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios meet the timing for scares. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one late-stage specialty acquisition join the party. For now, the job is simple, craft precise trailers, keep the curtain closed, and let the shudders sell the seats.